Prayer:Chaplain Mark Somerville, Hospice Care of Kansas, gave the invocation.

Minutes: Leffler made a motion to approve the minutes from the February 22, 2011 meeting. Griffith seconded the motion.Reavis stated the address listed for Carl Dennett had one too many numbers.Motion carried without opposition.

Appropriations:

March (3):Huddleston inquired about the payment amount to the Augusta Animal Clinic.Keefer stated it included two large bills in addition to the regular monthly charges.Keefer stated one was for a health check up for Basco and the second one was for when Basco passed away.Huddleston inquired about the cause of death.Keefer stated it was heart issues.Griffith made a motion to approve Ordinance 3 in the amount of $906,932.55. Harper seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

New Business:

Neighborhood Revitalization Plan: Council conducted a public hearing to take input on the proposed Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.After no public comments the Mayor closed the public hearing.

Rawlings made a motion to approve Ordinance 2017 approving implementation of the new Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.Leffler seconded the motion. Huddleston inquired about item #5 on page 3 and asked if disqualification only applies to the property with delinquent taxes.Keefer stated it would only disqualify the application on that particular property.Huddleston stated item #7 says they are only eligible for one program at a time and asked if that includes the Kansas Homestead Tax Credit.Keefer stated he didn’t know about that, but would ask. Huddleston asked how many NRP rebate applications you can have on one property.Keefer stated you can only have one active rebate at a time.Huddleston asked if that applies if it is not the original application.Keefer stated there can only be one active rebate per property.Huddleston asked if you could have them on multiple properties.Keefer stated yes.Motion carried without opposition.

Childers made a motion to approve Resolution 2011-03 authorizing the Mayor to execute Interlocal Agreements with Butler County, USD 402, and Butler Community College in regards to the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.Harper seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Leffler made a motion authorizing $5,000 to be used towards the marketing campaign to promote the Augusta community and the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.Harper seconded the motion. Griffith stated the Chamber tabled this at their last meeting, but that they wanted to know what the City would do for their portion if they were involved.Griffith stated our share would be $5,000 only.Keefer agreed and stated there would probably be an opportunity to raise additional funds through donations if the Chamber is not able to fund $5,000.Keefer stated the current motion is for $5,000 only.Huddleston asked if we will own the commercials.Williams stated she doesn’t have that answer now, but that could be criteria when choosing a production company.Wallace stated he would want the ownership of the commercial to be a stipulation so we would have the rights to post it on our website and using social media outlets.Motion carried without opposition.

Williams stated she will follow up to make sure we will have ownership of the commercials.Williams asked when an applicant can file under the new NRP.Keefer stated as soon as the Ordinance is published in the paper this Thursday.Keefer stated it is also up to the other agencies to agree to be part of the program.Kristey thanked Eric Grooms, Mark McCollom, Wade Wilkerson, Craig Sharp, and Mark Sudduth for their support and the time they spent on this plan.

Zoning Regulations – Parking Stalls:Huddleston made a motion to approve Ordinance 2018 amending the City of Augusta’s Zoning Regulations in regards to parking stall dimensions.Leffler seconded the motion.Wallace stated when this change was originally requested it was only for the Wal-Mart area.Keefer stated the Wal-Mart property is the only retail area that would currently meet the criteria.Motion carried without opposition.

Kansas Affordable Airfares Program: Harper made a motion to approve Resolution 2011-04 in Support of the Kansas Affordable Airfares Program.Childers seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Air Capital Aircraft Sales and Service LLC Lease: Wallace made a motion to approve an amendment to the lease agreement with Air Capital Aircraft Sales and Service, LLC for office space in the main hangar at the Augusta Municipal Airport.Rawlings seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

ARTDG Lease:Leffler made a motion to approve a lease agreement with Advanced Research and Technology Development Group (ARTDG) for the Quonset Building located at the south end of the Augusta Municipal Airport.Harper seconded the motion.Huddleston stated there are certain things that have bothered him about leasing airport space to ARTDG.Huddleston stated this lease doesn’t tie into the original NIAR lease and that it is separate because they are doing something different at this location.Anthony Speer with ARTDG passed out a letter from Dr. Tomlin from NIAR explaining what will done in this space.Speer stated it would include a couple of other laboratories.Huddleston stated the letter indicates it will be a STAR facility and asked if there will be any testing done at this facility.Speer stated there will not be any HERF testing as discussed with regard to the original lease, although that testing did not occur.Speer stated there will be a composites laboratory.

Griffith asked how NIAR is doing, specifically with funding.Speer stated he is not in a position to speak on that, as he only assists in locating property for NIAR.Williams stated NIAR will be receiving $5 million in funding from the State.

Huddleston stated the purpose of this lease is condensed compared to the previous lease.Shaw stated the original lease was for two spaces.Shaw stated the aircraft maintenance and other uses were for what Ken Stultz was doing in that building, but they were combined into the one lease.Now that Stultz is gone it no longer includes those purposes in the lease.

Huddleston referenced item #10 regarding maintenance and asked for a definition of normal repair.Shaw stated this language is similar to what is used in our other leases, and that normal is defined on a case by case basis.Shaw stated we recently made some improvements to that building.Huddleston inquired about mechanical equipment such as the furnace, etc.Shaw stated we are responsible for making sure they are in working order at the time of occupancy, but that ARTDG would be responsible for repairs moving forward.Huddleston stated he is concerned if we leave it open-ended we will get stuck with the costs.Williams stated there is language like this in our other leases.

Huddleston stated he has other questions he would like general answers for such as the lease rate here is less than the rate for the 2009 lease rate.Shaw stated there was another lease opportunity for this space about a month ago with the rates listed in this lease, but that tenant backed out.Shaw stated the space has been vacant for a year and that this lease rate is based on the current market.Shaw stated that in the past, when the three spaces were rented out individually they netted $750 per month.But with it all being rented by one party we are now going to be receiving $950 per month.

Motion carried with Huddleston opposing.

Consent Annexation:Griffith made a motion to accept a Consent to Annexation Agreement with Alan and Rachel Cokeley for a tract of property located at 139 Walnut Street.Huddleston seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Wallace made a motion to approve Ordinance 2019 annexing the property located at 139 Walnut Street.Harper seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Work Session:Leffler made a motion to approve scheduling a work session for 6 p.m. Monday, March 21, 2011 to review and discuss the City Lake Spillway and Dam Project.Harper seconded the motion.Williams stated she will be out of town that night.Motion carried without opposition.

KMEA Board:Wallace made a motion to approve the reappointment of Councilman Rawlings to the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) Board of Directors.Harper seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Informational Memorandum:

Williams – Williams reminded everyone there will be an open house at the Municipal Airport on March 14th from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.Shaw stated that KDOT came out and looked at it and was very happy about the improvements that had been made.Shaw stated that local photographer Paul Bowen was very happy to see his work being displayed at the Airport.Williams stated Daniel White has done a good job and wished him the best of luck.White said his last day will be this Friday.

Williams inquired about the orange fencing up around the lake.Keefer stated it is snow fence and that it is being used to stop snow from drifting across Ohio Street.Williams stated hopefully we won’t need it anymore this year.

Childers – Childers stated he would like to endorse the replacement of Basco.Wallace stated Augusta picks up the tab for the dog and everyone else uses it for free.Wallace stated the Butler County Sheriff told him they would not get a dog because it is too expensive and they get to use ours for free.Wallace stated there were only four drug cases last year that Basco found and said we should consider whether that warrants the cost of funding a replacement.Keefer stated that Basco not only served as a drug dog, but that he also worked a lot of hours as PR for the City.Keefer stated his presence has helped keep some situations from escalating and that he has proven to be a very reliable resource in several situations.Keefer stated the idea of not having a drug dog is worse than the cost.Keefer stated as indicated in the memo, staff would look for grant funding and donations to assist in the purchase, and that Sgt. Chad McCluskey has volunteered to go out and fundraise for the cost of replacing the dog.Wallace stated he is not against having a drug dog, but that he does object to the County using it for free.Childers asked Wallace to clarify he is in favor of replacing Basco but not sharing the dog for free.Wallace agreed.Keefer stated he would have Chief Brewer and Sgt. McCluskey come to a council meeting at a later date to discuss policies for the future use of the dog.

Williams – Williams stated the County will be holding a public hearing at 9 a.m. tomorrow to take comments on closing Dike Road.Leffler clarified it would only be Dike Road to the south of 7th Street.Keefer stated that farmers use that road to get across 7th Street, and stated that we might see a tractor or combine enter on Lulu and 7th Street and head west to access the north Dike Road on occasion.Keefer stated he wanted to make sure on the record that there is no objection to that.No one voiced an objection.Huddleston stated that type of situation would be minimal.

Final Comments:

Childers – Childers stated the 4th Annual Spaghetti fundraiser for Downtown Augusta Inc. will be this Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.Harper and Leffler asked Childers if he would be cooking.Childers stated his cooking school students would be.

Williams – Williams stated there will be an Egg’s and Issues coming up possibly this Saturday.Leffler stated it is March 26th.Williams stated the Chamber is sponsoring a session on banking this Thursday morning at LakePoint.

Harper – Harper inquired about the street sweeper schedule and stated that Osage is really bad. Keefer agreed that most of the streets needed some cleaning after the winter.Keefer stated the street sweeper has been out, but that its operation has been hampered due to low temperatures and repair issues.Keefer stated staff is working on getting it cleaned up.

Griffith – Griffith stated he was glad to see the brick issue addressed at Santa Fe and 6th Avenue.

Executive Session:At 7:45 p.m. Leffler made a motion to enter into executive session for 15 minutes for the purpose of consultation with an attorney on matters that would be deemed privileged in an attorney-client relationship.Wallace seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

At 8:03 p.m. Reavis made a motion to exit executive session with no action being taken.Wallace seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.

Adjourn:At 8:04 p.m. Leffler made a motion to adjourn.Wallace seconded the motion.Motion carried without opposition.